


Afterspark Podcast: G1 Episode 1 More Than Meets the Eye Part 1

by specspectacle, Twilight-Owls (LadyTorix)



Series: Afterspark Podcast G1 [2]
Category: The Transformers (Cartoon Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Audio Format: Streaming, Embedded Video, Episode Commentary, Episode Review, Episode notes, Fanart recommendations, Fanfiction recommendations, Links, Other, Podcast, Podfic Length: 30-45 Minutes, Swearing, Video, YouTube, episode recap, transcript
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 18:45:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17048591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/specspectacle/pseuds/specspectacle, https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyTorix/pseuds/Twilight-Owls
Summary: In which our hosts begin Transformers G1 in earnest. Good vs EVIL! Giant robots need no seat belts! And what even are rear view cameras? Find out today as we talk about the delightfulness that is the original Transformers pilot.(Our apologies for some of the sound issues--we work to improve this in later episodes.)





	Afterspark Podcast: G1 Episode 1 More Than Meets the Eye Part 1

**Transcript**

Stinger:

O: So, why don’t you tell me the worst possible thing the Bay movies did?

S: Basically, everything everything about them.

[Intro music plays]

O: Welcome back to [the] After Spark Podcast! I’m Owls!

S: And I’m Specs!

O: And today we’re here to talk to you about More than Meets the Eye Part One!

S: Oh, and part one is part one of three.

O: Yes. So basically let’s sit down and talk about giant robots, shall we? SO! This is the very beginning of the Transformers cartoon, so we get an opening in space. Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away… On Cybertron! There was WAR. [quietly] I didn’t know if you wanted to talk about the environment. [laughing]

S: [laughing] Oh, yes, there’s some lovely environments paintings here. They’re just, they’re really nice. And then we get to the giant robots.

O: And then we get to the giant robots! But I do want to pause, you actually found some, like, concept art-

S: Oh.

O: -Of the original.

S: Yeah, it’s, uh… I forgot the artist, I’d have to look him up. They’re very, very pretty! We’ll, uh, we’ll find the post and link to it.

O: Sure! Uh, they’re a little bit more watercolor than you normally expect considering the, the color scheme on the show, but they are very pretty.

S: They’re very rainbowy- lot’s of yellows and pinks and golds and yes.

O: Anyway! So we start out on the planet Cybertron, which is the Transformers, ah, home planet, in the middle of WAR.

S: [laughing]

O: With the Autobots vs the Decepticons. And by Decepticons, I mean, Pure Evil ™. [laughing]

S: That’s what they’re driven by. It’s-it’s their life goal.

O: It’s not that- because they were created to do war entirely and they really didn’t have anything else to do with their lives.

S: It gets weird depending on-

O: what continuity

S: -which continuity you’re in, or creation story. Because I think it’s implied later in the series that the quintessons built them and the Decepticons are warbuilds and the Autobots are like, the consumer-

O: Yeah-

S: -products.

O: -Something like that. Basically, what we’re getting at it. Is when you build someone only to fight, what options do they really have? But that’s not the point here, the point here is the Decepticons are the bad guys and run on PURE EVIL.

S: Yeah.

O: [clears throat] Anyway, so we open up and see two Autobots, which is Wheeljack and Bumblebee and, unlike Bumblebee from the movies, this Bumblebee can talk just fine. If you’re only familiar with the, uh, Bay-verse-

S: Mh-hmm.

O: -That does come around some of the animated ones later, but not here.

S: Yeah.

O: So they’re both snaggin’ some energy to take back to their base, which is based out of Iacon, which is an Autobot city-

S: Mm-hmm.

O: -Where they are jumped by the Seekers. Why don’t you give us a summary of the Seekers and then I’ll go into this stupid continuity shit because Oh My God.

S: Yeah, ok, so there’s Starscream, Skywarp, and Thundercracker, They’re the main Seeker, ah, Trio, Trine? That we see in the series, except that basically Starscream is Megatron’s second in command and then the other two just sort of hang around for shits and giggles. [laughter]

O: They’re also all jets .

S: Yes, and on Cybertron they’re pyramid jets instead of being… F-15’s? Or whatever the heck they are on earth. I forget.

O: A few- A few characters, like during this part where they’re on Cybertron, have their own cybertronian designs. Not very many, most of them don’t transform, and the ones that even though they do transform still have the elements of their designs from earth, so like Wheeljack still looks like a lamborghini, which is pretty-

S: -Actually, he’s a Lancia Stratos.

O: OH, thank you! Wheeljack still looks like a Stratos, even though he turns into this weird hover car later. So-

S: And Bumblebee just. I don’t know what the heck his altmode is, but somehow [laughter continuing through rest of line] he has teeny, tiny wheels.

O: Somehow he, in fact, has teeny, tiny wheels. We’ll get to that in a moment. Anyway! So,they’re jumped by the Seekers, right.

S: Yes

O: Which-which seems pretty reasonable, but then the voice that come out of Starscreams’ mouth is not his. It’s definitely not his. It’s this really deep voice that’s going, “Get them,” or something. Along those lines.

S: Yep.

O: And so! I, because I was- I-I was curious what was going on here and I actually went and looked it up, because I had assumed that either Skywarp or Thundercracker’s voice was coming out of his mouth there. And then I just sort of, it just kept getting dumber the [laughter] more I looked. So, apparently, that’s actually Bumblebee’s voice actor. It’s not either of the other two jets, because it was probably supposed to just be a generic Decepticon but the animators stuck the Seekers here.

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Which doesn’t make a lot of sense [clears throat] for a variety of reasons. Mainly because Starscream we’ll see back in a couple minutes, is back in the base with Megatron, so uh, but then it got better, because when they cut, they turn into three completely different Seekers and one of them has a flamethrower. [laughter]

S: Yes, [laughter] That throws out perfectly spherical, well, no it’s not spherical, a perfect circle of fire just around the Autobots.

O: Yes! At which they promptly ignore and drive through anyway so you have to ask yourself, “What was the point?”

S: Yeah, Wheeljack has these stupid little, twirly spinny things? [The word I wanted was propeller] That he deploys before they drive through the fire and it’s like, “UM?”

O: I don’t know how it worked, but it did apparently? Um, so they manage to escape after Bumblebee gets hurt.

S: It’s, apparently, his rear axle or something, and you see him lose a [laughter] teeny, tiny wheel.

O: Which makes no sense because they’re both hover cars.

S: They look like hover cars except I don’t what the heck Bumblebee’s supposed to be because he’s sort of a weirdly-

O: He’s very weirdly shaped. Anyway, so Bumblebee [clears throat] hops on into Wheeljack and they, ah, drive off and escape the Decepticons.

S: Oh, and Wheeljack deploys, like, a shield or something which I don’t think we ever see again.

O: Get used to that!

S: It really weirds me out. It’s like Wheeljack, what’s the point? Why don’t you use this again? Does it go away when you’re on earth?

O: We then cut back to the Autobot base, which is strangely… booby shaped.

S: [Laughter]

O: I’m not sure why, but whatever. Anyway, outside the base you see Soundwave is spying on the Autobots and is just chilling out there. Now the fun part about this is, um, Soundwave, when they get to earth, will turn into a cassette player and right now he turns into a street lamp. [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] Apparently a street lamp. He could also be, y’know, like some sort of weird phone thing, except I don’t think the street would need like eight of those.

O: I’m pretty sure it’s a street lamp, but what kills me is that you see him turn back into robot mode and deploy Laserbeak, which is one of his cassette robots, but he still has a cassette deck despite turning into a, um, street lamp.

S: Yeah.

O: Which Ijust find kind of hilarious. We-we see Jazz drive by and somehow completely miss Soundwave who, I swear to god, turned back into a street lamp within the line of sight.

S: Yes, yes, he pretty much did, and I mean, why don’t the Autobots have a camera monitoring their front door?

O: Cause Laserbeak just, y’know, is gonna fly in there and what kills me is, they never have a Laserbeak detector? Laserbeak, on earth, enters their base multiple times, you’d think there would be something but no. I-Soundwave’s just like, yeah, I know what’s going on in the Autobot base at any given point.

S: Yeah, I mean, I’m sure at some point they end up with like, pressure sensors on the floor.

O: That doesn’t help with the bird. [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] I know!

O: Maybe it helps with Ravage?

S: It doesn’t help with ninjas.

O: [Snorts] Yeah, that’s coming, [Laughter] thank you for reminding me.

S: [Laughter]

O: We see Jazz drive back into the base and we’re introduced to the leader of the Autobots, which is Optimus Prime. Who, even if you know nothing about Transformers, you probably know who Optimus Prime is, because he’s one of the most recognizable ones. I would argue his design is a lot more recognizable than Megatron’s-

S: Yeah.

O: -especially G1.

S: Mm-hmm, he’s big, he’s red and blue and he turns into a Mack truck.

O: So, you know, he feels very burly and American-y, I guess. Because he turns into a freaking semi. Ah, so after we get our introduction to Optimus, we basically cut back to the Decepticon base because this show can’t focus too long on anything. But we’re finally introduced to the Decepticons and their leader, Megatron, who is going to be delightfully campy, and his posse.

S: [Laughter] And then Shockwave, he kind of ends up being the elevator guy later in the series. But he’s purple, he turns into a gun that can fly, and apparently he just likes chilling in his altmode.

O: Yeah, like, it cuts to the base and he just in gun mode and Megatron’s like, “Shockwave!” So I don’t know how that works.

S: Starscream, as I said earlier, is Megatron’s second in command and he really doesn’t hide his ambitions well. He doesn’t. At ALL.

O: So, again, depending on the continuity, but the general gist of Starscream, every Starscream, is that he wants to lead the Decepticons and doing so means basically he needs to kill Megatron because Megatron would probably rip him to pieces otherwise. [Laughter]

S: Except that he keeps telling Megatron, to his face, that he [Starscream] should be the leader of the Decepticons.

O: YES, and I can only assume that Megatron at this point and later only keeps him around for shits and giggles.

S: [Laughter]

O: That’s all I got. [Laughter]

S: Either that or, y’know, your own personal theory on that.

O: UH.

S: I don’t know if you want to share.

O: Personally, I think they’re in some sort of relationship and it is not a good relationship, and they should really not be in a relationship, but I feel like that makes the most sense for why Megatron just doesn’t rip the guys head off. BUT moving on, so after Starscream is Starscream for several minutes.

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Basically, the gist of it is, they find the Autobots are gonna leave Cybertron and Megatron’s like, “Well, clearly they’ve gotta be looking for something, we’d better follow them.” Because of course you are.

S: Gotta get that energy!

O: Gotta get that energon! Because energy shortage. Cut back to the Autobots who are now getting ready to blast off in their spaceship.

S: So basically, the cover on top of the city just sort of peels back and then-then the ship. There’s like nothing around the ship holding it up. It’s just hovering there and it’s like [bad sound effect] basically they fire up the engines and they blast off and it’s like ok, there’s nothing.

O: There’s no supports, so this thing goes straight up.

S: And you don’t see anything else in the city so, what, did they cannibalize entire the city for this thing? Or is it mostly underground and was- this was just their, “this is our spaceship hanger.”

O: Yeah.

S: That makes no frigging sense.

O: So, uh, they blast off. They clearly don’t know what the hell seatbelts are. [Laughter]

S: Yeah

O: Because, no one’s wearing them.

S: Yeah, they-they also don’t know what a rear view camera is. [Laughter]

O: As we’ll see! In just a moment! So the Decepticons follow them up into space.

S: In their really, really depressing purple spaceship. It looks so sad.

O: It-it has this really droopy nose and it looks like saddest spaceship in the entire universe. Anyway, basically, the Decepticons are following them, the Autobots don’t know this because aforementioned, they have no rear cameras. [Laughter]

S: Yeah

O: Suddenly, there are asteroids!

S: Yeah.

O: And-and then the Decepticons board the Autobot ship.

S: Yeah, there’s like some steam and stuff coming from where the hook-in is and then there’s just fighting. And-and Soundwave takes out three or four Autobots at once and then you see him, like, [laughter] face-down over a console.

O: Yes, he takes out three or four guys. He’s there being a badass because Soundwave is a badass, and then, like, the next shot, he’s like flat, he’s like face-down over a panel or something and your like, “What happened in those interim three seconds?”

S: Yeah, like, some of the guys that he was, that he was fighting and beating up last time are fighting someone else. Ok.

O: Yeah.

S: Ok

O: You have no idea what happened. SO While they’re fighting, with apparently no time in between, suddenly earth is there and they crash land on it.

S: How did these weirdos miss eight to nine planets and, I mean, and a sun, and how was this a surprise? Even if they were fighting. Shouldn’t there have been some sort of warning system or something?

O: You would think! This is a spaceship you’d think not running into asteroids or planets would be a bit of a concern.

S: And, I mean, how long has this been happening cuz, I mean, what? It took, like, thirty years for one of our spaceships [a probe, actually] to get, basically, from earth to the outer edge of our solar system.

O: I mean, I would assume they’re-they’re faster than what our spaceships could do definitely, but it does beg the question, “How long was that fight going on?”

S: Were they just beating each other up like Rock-Em, Sock-Em Robots-

O: -For like a hundred years? [Laughter]

S: I mean, considering their lifespans that’s not improbable but, uh, still really weird to think about.

O: Yes. So! They all crashland on earth and fall asleep for four million years, and four million years later they wake up from the world’s weirdest giant robot slumber party with the universe’s worst hangovers.

S: Yeah.

O: Of course, they don’t wake up until the volcano they’ve apparently crash landed into-

S: Mt St. Hillary!

O: Mt St. Hillary erupts and jostles Skywarp into the ‘repair zone?’ [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] So it turns- Apparently the volcano blowing up, like, wakes up Teletraan-1 and then it knocks Skywarp into Teletraan-1’s weird repair beam and the ship! How does the ship not know who it’s crew is?

O: You-you would think, cause, like, I know we kind of mentioned earlier, but Skywarp is a Decepticon, he’s one of the Seekers. How would this thing not have, like, oh, a Decepticon signal is-is, y’know, detected- don’t repair this one, you’d think? But clearly they don’t! So, Skywarp gets- So, Skywarp wakes up, we see Teletraan-1 flying around earth, scanning earth vehicles so that’s gonna be the alt modes everyone gets.

S: I think it’s probably a Sky-Spy that’s doing the scanning.

O: Fair point.

S: But I don’t remember if it’s a Sky-Spy or if Sky-Spy’s were only invented later, by Wheeljack. I don’t remember…

O: Anyway, we-we see some sort of little device running around earth, scanning alt earth modes for bots. So Skywarp woke up first- he, basically, drags Megatron over to the Heal Zone. [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] Yeah, the Heal Zone!

O: The Heal Zone! And Megatron wakes up and, thus, they heal the rest of the Decepticons and instead of doing the smart thing.

S: Like, y’know, killing your-

O: Mortal enemy.

S: -Yes. That are, y’know, incapable of fighting back.

O: They’re like, we’re just gonna olly out of here, because this is a waste of energon.

S: Pretty much, gotta go find some cool energon, gotta go fuel up. [Laughter]

O: ‘Cause it’s the Eighties, so it’s ener-GON! [Laughter]

S: [Laughter]

O: While they all, like, sort of group up on a cliff-

S: -outcropping? [muffled]

O: I don’t know.

S: Villainously, maybe?

O: Villainously. Basically, the question of, “Hey, why don’t we kill the Autobots?” sort of comes up and Megatron’s like, “That’s a waste of energy, they’re asleep. Come on, let’s do our shit,” And Starscream, being Starscream, shoots at the, uh, shoots at the Ark, the Autobot spaceship. And-which jostles Optimus into the heal zone. [Laughter]

S: Well, he [Starscream] actually shoots, like, an overhang of rock that fall- that collapses and then that jostles Optimus into the heal zone.

O: Right! But what I’m getting at here, is it’s all Starscream’s fault!

S: Pretty much, pretty much.

O: [Laughter] And again, second in command of the Autobo-, er, the Decepticons, here, folks. Cut to the Decepticons who are now setting up a new base, which is also purple!

S: Yep, like, it’s obviously Megatron’s favorite color- I guess Skywarp is Megatron’s favorite Decepticon, since he’s the most purple one that we see right now, except for Shockwave. And he’s also the one that, like, Megatron was the first dude he went to help. So, it’s like, A) his boss, B) the dude that is, like, his favorite person. [Laughter] Or something.

O: Basically, what we’re getting at, is Megatron’s favorite color is purple, and I have comic panels that prove this. [Laughter]

S: Mm-hmm, yep. Lost Light, I think? Probably.

O: Probably, ‘cause I think it’s, like, he painted this entire ship purple or something. [Laughter]

S: Yeah, yeah, that’s it.

O: Anyway, Decepticons are setting up their new base. Starscream, Soundwave, and Rumble, which is another one of, ah, Soundwave’s cassette bots-

S: -Cassette- cassetticons.

O: -Cassetticons, ok, thank you.

S: You’re welcome.

O: Basically, see a human powerplant in the distance and are like, “Yo, we need energy!” So they fly off to go do that. All of them fly, yes. You, too, will believe a cassette- [laughter] -a cassette player can fly. [laughter]

S: Oh-ok, so, the reason they’re going over there is a, a little less energy, and more, “Let’s get materials to build this stupid base!”

O: Right. But they’re like, “Let’s go over there! [Laughter] Let’s do this.”

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Ah, Soundwave is not allowed to come up with, like, operation names, I forgot what this one was, but y- later he just says some really generic ones. I’m like, “Buddy, buddy, noooo.”

S: Yeah, they’re kind of… “Operation: Devastation.” Or something.

O: Operation: Tidal Wave-

S: Yep.

O: -was my personal favorite, because it was just like, no they’re just trying to make a tidal wave. There’s nothing else going on here right now.

S: Except that’s not how tidal waves work!

O: I know! I know! So, the Autobots have woken up and they’re taking stock of their surroundings and they’re determined to find and stop the Decepticons, so Cliffjumper and Hound are sent off to scout.

S: Yep. OK, so we see Optimus, like, give-so, the Autobots are taking stock of what’s going on, that they’re on a new world, and that they need to go, go out and scout and do things! And so we’ve got Hound, who is A) our scout, B) he’s got hologram powers and other things, and he’s a pretty neat dude. And then there’s Cliffjumper, who’s Mr. Triggerhappy [but not Triggerhappy]. Don’t send the triggerhappy one, Optimus, just don’t.

O: But he does! So, I’m sure you can guess what happens next! The show is not that creative.

S: It-it isn’t. It isn’t.

O: So Cliffjumper and Hound find the Decepticon base and a basically listening in to Megatron as he is monologuing, ah, to, I think, Soundwave. But, because of how it’s shot, it just kind of feels like Hound is jacking into Megatron’s brain-waves with the satellite and I don’t know that’s so funny to me but it is. [Laughter]

S: It is pretty funny. [Laughter]

O: Only ‘cause you don’t, you don’t, like, a lot of it is shown from, like, Hounds perspective with his like satellite thing listening. [indistinct, we talked over each other]

S: His little radar dish.

O: Yeah, so it’s just sort of like, are they just jacking into Megatron’s head? Cause that’s kind of what that looks like. So then, Cliffjumper gets the brilliant idea to shoot Megatron.

S: Like, he says he’s in his-

O: Crosshairs?

S: No, it’s not crosshairs, it’s like, “In his viewfinder.” I think viewfinder’s the word that he used.

O: He had one job, which was to go scout and he couldn’t do that but, what made it worse is, HE ALSO FUCKING MISSED! [Laughter]

S: [Laughter] That wasn’t in your line of sight, or your crosshairs, or whatever! You triggerhappy little, red lunatic.

O: Red lunatic, yup, yup yup. Anyway! So, after Megatron almost gets shot, Soundwave’s like, “Laserbeak, go get them,” and ejects him again.

S: Mm-hmm.

O: So then, one of my favorite things in this episode happens, which Hound and Cliffjumper are like, “ Oh no, if we split up, they can’t get us.” So they’re like, this is a great idea. And Laserbeak, not being a fucking moron, shoots a missile that’s gonna follow…Hound? [indistinct]

S: The missile follows Cliffjumper.

O: The missile follows Cliffjumper and it’s hilarious because it keeps cutting between Hound and Cliffjumper, and the missile is, like, strangely sentient? [Laughter] And it’s dodging?

S: It’s really good at following Cliffjumper, really good!

O: It just sort of feels like Laserbeak popped out a baby that is sentient and is following Cliffjumper.

S: And then dies.

O: [Laughter] And then dies. Um, so it misses, so Cliffjumper’s okay, but Hound gets hit to we can get introduced to the ambulance bot, Ratchet.

S: Mm-hmm. [indistinct] Ratchet, Ratchet’s portable medibay that I think we only see this one time.

O: Keep remembering this is a pilot and they did some weird things that don’t show up at any point later.

S: Yep, and we also meet a dude named Hauler, who I think we never see again. We might see him once, I don’t think we ever… Maybe once more, I don’t think we ever see him talk. But yeah, Hauler does not equal, equal Grapple. And-

O: Very similar looking, I assume? [Transcription note: yes, they are very similar looking]

S: Well, I think Grapple only shows up in Season two,

O: Hrm.

S: So, yeah. And so this dude may be more elusive than cartoon Skids, who I think shows up, like, twice. And may or may not ever talk.

O: After all that junk happens, we cut to Thundercracker and three, I know they’re not mini-cons but they’re really small?

S: They’re closer to being minibots, I guess.

O: Ok-

[talking over each other]

S: Mini-cons are basically the tiny little dudes that in, that showed up in Armada that basically, basically they, uh, like tie in and provide power boosts to other Transformers and so minicon, like, specifically means… that. Unless we’re talking about 2005, 2015 Robots in Disguise, in which case, they’re just tiny dudes. [Transcription note: … I was wrong about that, 2015 RiD mini-cons do provide power-ups.]

O: Ok, which is kind of what I’m operating [under]. But anyway, you’ve got three smaller robots who can turn into a polaroid camera. [Reflector]

S: Yeah, they- they’re a weird little combiner dude.

O: They are. Anyway, so Thundercracker picks them up takes- snaps a picture of a truck and mistakes it for an Autobot. I don’t know why he needed a polaroid camera- [clears throat]

S: To identify an Autobot.

O: That wasn’t! That’s- I think the best part here is he’s wrong, so of course they send somebody out to investigate and, oh no, it’s actually humans, who are then attacked by one of Soundwave’s other cassettes, which is Ravage who turns into a giant panther.

S: Mm-hmm.

O: By giant, I mean he’s, aah, about as tall as a person probably.

S: He’s, uh, he’s a cassette, a cassetticon.

O: Cassetticon.

S: Yeah, his shoulder goes up to, like, human shoulders? Or something?

O: Probably. Something along those lines. The Autobots mobilize after being warned by Cliffjumper and Hound of the Decepticon plan. Why Cliffjumper wasn’t punished for just not fucking scouting I’ll never understand, but whatever.

S: They then make a joke about it, about, “Oh, you shouldn’t have missed!” and it’s sort of weirdly lighthearted. Being in a military unit. [talking over each other]

O: Oh, that scamp! [Laughter]

S: Kind of. And I mean, the humans that Ravage attacks are the honestly most sensible people in this whole cartoon, ‘cause they get the hell out.

O: Yeah!

S: [talking over each other] They olly on out!

O: When the giant panther attacks attacks you get the hell out. Anyway, so the Autobots mobilize and do what I can only describe as toy roll call because they are introduced by name one at a time, except for like two characters who aren’t on the screen at the same time, b-but mostly it’s a toy roll call, y’know, for the kids so y’know what- what toys to buy the kids. Remember the toys, kids? The toys.

S: Pretty much and it’s Majordomo Jazz leading the roll call, so we’re not quite sure what the Autobot, like, hierarchy here is, ‘cause I think, Prowl’s generally the second but I don’t think he’s introduced as the second and Jazz, like, is the one who leads most of the, like, troop actions, apparently.

O: I’m going to go with Jazz is just more of a people person [laughter] ‘cause Prowl is kind of… He’s the one who’s, like, gotta keep discipline.

S: Pretty much, yeah.

O: So, the Decepticons! Land on an oil rig because they want to get power to make energon.

S: Oh-oh, and apparently energon cubes aren’t really a thing for Autobots, like, it’s specified that they’re gonna put energon in a cube when Hound reports back.

O: Yeah, they’re like some kind of cube things, so clearly what we’re saying here is Energon Cubes has been trademarked by, ah, Soundwave.

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Ah, obviously, and now I just want to imagine him in like, y’know, an actual trademark office [Specs laughs] and trying to fill this stuff out and, like, maybe Perceptor’s in there doing the same thing for some sciency thing and they’re just kind of like, “Hey.” “Hey.” [Then they] get back to doing paperwork.

S: Yeah, like, he’s [Perceptor] trademarking his anti-cosmic rust thing.

O: [Laughter] Yeah, something like that.

S: Um, so the first time we see Sparkplug and Spike, they’re on this oil rig and, what is it? Is it take your child to work day? Even if it’s an oil rig?

O: Yeah, ‘cause Spike’s, like, what? Fourteen? Sixteen? Something like that.

S: I feel like he’s supposed to be sixteen though in the original comics he’s older than Buster, who’s the the main human that hangs out with the Autobots, so he was like eighteen or twenty one in that, so I don’t know what to expect. [Talking over each other]

O: You-We don’t know what’s going on there and why a chi- a fourteen year old- sixteen year old, whatever, would be on an oil rig with his dad.

S: I feel like he’s supposed to be sixteen but… Y’never. It’s never clarified.

O: Pretty much. Anyway! So, Decepticons attack an oil rig and humans freak out about the forty foot robots that have suddenly landed. And by freak out, I mean, humans are territorial and will attack anything and are throwing all this shit at Megatron and like, ah, what like, tools and a crowbar and like all these other various things. They’re just like, “Oh my god! There’s this giant thing, throw shit at it!” [Laughter]

S: Pretty much let’s make it go away by assaulting it with-with tools.

O: Yes! Then Soundwave makes Energon cubes which the Decepticons promptly fill with oil and then squish, and somehow that turns into energon?

S: Yeah.

O: I don’t know.

S: It’s weird, it’s- oh god it’s like those- So you know there are those, uh, plastic bag things that you can like vacuum se- you put clothes in-

O: {Laughter] Oh god. You vacuum seal.

S: - With a vacuum in order to condense it, and for y’know storage, and that’s all this reminds me of, except somehow that’s how they process your oil into energon.

O: Vacuum sealed energon, got it, cool, cool. So Decepticons are creating mass chaos as you do and the Autobots arrive. By flying… Remember that later!

S: Mm-hmm.

O: Because they’re FLYING!

S: Yeah.

O: And it doesn’t look assisted.

S: Yeah.

O: Uh, so all out fighting breaks out. Megatron does what I can only describe as a trust fall, by alting into his gun and being caught by Starscream-

S: Yeah.

O: -Um, who’s firing him. Insert joke here, something. Anyway, there’s laserfire everywhere, on an oil rig. Good thing there’s not anything combustible here, right?

S: Except the oil is running free.

O: Yeah. So, that’s happening and then Megatron and Optimus are trying to fight, and then Laserbeak tries to attack Optimus Prime.

S: And ok, he’s probably trying to, like, rip his optics out or something, but all-all we get is bonk! [Laughter]

O: They use a bonk sound effect, so you just, it kind of feels like it was something running into a glass window or something. *clnk* *clnk* *clnk* *clnk*

S: [Laughing] Basically- He’s basically just bonking him on the head.

O: [Laughing] And which, I’m sure is annoying, but probably isn’t going to do any damage to Optimus Prime. So then the Deceptions escape and only now are there explosions. But only when Megatron wants explosions.

S: And he’s laughing alone with fire.

O: He’s laughing alone with fire! See the true power of the leader of the Decepticons!

S: [Laughing]

O: Cause then we gotta save them humans, uh, and that’s basically where the episode cuts.

S: More or less. Yeah, like Sparkplug and Spike are trapped under some weirdly unsinkable metal bits that they apparently can’t dive out from under and there’s some weird stuff going on with Sparkplug’s arm where you can just see his forearm and it doesn’t look like it’s connected to his shoulder at all.

O: Animation errors. So we cut to it and it’s like, “Next episode: Dams! Arch enemies! And,” my own personal favorite, “how rubies are a warlords best friend! So stay tuned!”

S: [Laughing] Yeah! I’m looking forward to the rubies.

O: So this episode of More than Meets the Eye part one is a- part one of a three parter so, y’know [indistinct], but that is where the episode ends is, “The oil rig is exploding!” and “Oh no, save the humans!” So! That’s the end of our first episode and we’ll have the next one up soon if it’s not already up. Something we wanted to bring up here is that originally, it would have been kind of fun we could of gone over some of the more memorable animation or continuity errors while we were doing this…

But holy fucking Primus, there are so many! Literally, it is six and a half pages single spaced. If you take all of the sections off of, like, the TFWiki for just this site, which is, I think, animation and technical errors, continuity errors, and trivia, which I know isn’t errors but, still, fun information. SO, ah, I think it’s safe to say we’ll call ‘em when we sees ‘em, but only if they’re going to be particularly amusing for us because, oooh, we’re not going to go over six and a half pages of animation errors. If that’s your thing, though, the TFWiki is a fantastic resource, definitely go over there, get your fill of trivia, ‘cause they’ve got it all!

S: Yeah, I’ll note animation errors if they particularly annoy me.

O: So! Specs, what is our fanfic recommendations for the week!

S: Well, I’ve got two recommendations, both of which are complete. There’s Transformers: Juxtaposition by Vaeru, which I may or may not be pronouncing their name correctly, um, yeah. So, rating- it’s rated T, it’s gen, there aren’t really any pairings. The main character is an OC [Evelyn], an original character, but everyone else is the G1 cast with a few other OC’s, original characters, that show up. So, in summary, “A car wreck on a rainy night leads to the oddest partnership imaginable. A disembodied voice, possessed cars, alien robots, kidnapping, rescue, abduction, sparks, keys, and tomato sandwiches… Read if you dare.”

S: So, part of why I chose this is that it’s a first contact story, it’s just. Evelyn is a really fun human character, she’s very entertaining, she’s a linguistics professor, and [spoiler alert!] basically her first contact with alien robots ends up in, basically, with one of the alien robots stuck in her head. And she thinks she’s going kind of batty but then he bodynaps her onto an alien spaceship and the other alien robots are very nonplussed by this.

O: [Snorts laughter]

S: So, and then, ah, our second, ah, recommen- well, my second recommendation, our second? Let’s go with ‘our’ second recommendation is-

O: [laughing] I’ve actually read this one!

S: I’ve recommended that you read Juxtaposition, but it’s like forty chapters long, and I should probably mention that. So, yeah, forty chapters long. It’s really long and it’s only the first part.

S: But, yeah, the second recommendation that we have is, “Why the Ark has no Doors” by Princess Artemis. So, continuity is G1, it’s rated K, it’s gen, no pairings, and the characters are the G1 cast, focusing mainly on Wheeljack and Wheeljack’s inventions. So-

O: And the shenanigans, therefore.

S: Mm-hmm, so in summary, “It has been asked why the Autobots never tried to make the Ark more secure. Well…they did. It just didn’t work out as planned. G1.” So the theme or basically the reason why I put this in is, Ark security or surveillance and/or the lack thereof, like my comment, uh, earlier in our, uh, conversation today.

O: So, ah, our fanart recommendation for the week is Taiyari and I’m so sorry if I’m not saying that right, you can find them at taiyari.tumblr.com, we will have a link. I’ve included some examples of the art that I’ve personally really liked, uh, they tend to do a lot of Megatron and Optimus stuff, but I actually came across them ‘cuz Specs had reblogged a kickstarter they were doing for pins of Soundwave and his cassettes that were super adorable! I may have ordered one. But their other stuff is great, too, and you should check them out!

O: So, thanks for listening to us today! Uh, just to kind of give a rundown of our social media, you can find us mostly on Tumblr at Afterspark-Podcast.tumblr.com. We are on Twitter and Facebook at AftersparkPod, all one word, and you can reach us via email, at Aftersparkpodcast [at] outlook [.] com. All this information can be found through our Tumblr as well.

O: Anyway, that’s it from us today! Please join us next time for More than Meets the Eye, Part two of the original three part pilot of Transformers!

O: This has been Owls!

S: And I’m Specs!

O: And thanks for listening to us, we’ll see you next time!

S: Toodles!

**Author's Note:**

>   **Concept Art:**
> 
>   * [Original Transformers Concept Art](https://io9.gizmodo.com/the-most-beautiful-transformers-concept-art-youll-ever-1528030389)
>   * [Original Transformers Cybertronian Forms Concept Art](http://ndverse.tumblr.com/post/175891996272/cybertron#notes)
> 

> 
> **Fanfic Recommendations:**
> 
>   * [Transformers: Juxtaposition](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3465930/1/Transformers-Juxtaposition) by Vaeru
>   * [Why The Ark Has No Doors](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/1275371/1/Why-The-Ark-Has-No-Doors) by Princess Artemis
> 

> 
> **Fanartist Recommendation:  Taiyari**  
>  Where to find them:
> 
>   * [Ko-fi](https://ko-fi.com/141597L935OIE)
>   * [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/taiyari)
>   * [TeePublic](https://www.teepublic.com/user/taiyari)
>   * [Tumblr](http://taiyari.tumblr.com/)
> 

> 
> Favorite Art:
> 
>   * [Two Angry Moms](http://taiyari.tumblr.com/post/172915430176/two-angry-moms)
>   * [Soundwave Kickstarter Pins](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/taiyari/family-superior-a-team-soundwave-enamel-pin-set?ref=project_link)
>   * [Optimus Prime and Miner Megs](http://taiyari.tumblr.com/post/173183992426/dont-mess-with-the-bf-%C3%B2%C3%B3%CB%87%E1%95%A4-for)
> 

> 
> **Additional Links:**
> 
>   * [Mount St. Hilary](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Mount_St._Hilary)
>   * [Triggerhappy is apparently the name of an actual Decepticon](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Triggerhappy_\(G1\))
>   * [Hauler](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Hauler)
>   * [Reflector](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Reflector_\(G1\))
>   * [Buster](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/Buster_Witwicky_\(G1\))
>   * [G1 Episode 1 Continuity Errors](https://tfwiki.net/wiki/More_than_Meets_the_Eye,_Part_1#Continuity_errors)
> 

> 
> **Where to find us:**
> 
>   * [Anchor](https://anchor.fm/aftersparkpodcast)
>   * [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/AftersparkPod)
>   * [Google Play](https://playmusic.app.goo.gl/?ibi=com.google.PlayMusic&isi=691797987&ius=googleplaymusic&apn=com.google.android.music&link=https://play.google.com/music/m/Imo2wtgyxc6dc5ayfomcavnitaa?t%3DAfterspark_Podcast%26pcampaignid%3DMKT-na-all-co-pr-mu-pod-16)
>   * [Pillowfort](https://www.pillowfort.io/Afterspark-Podcast)
>   * [Stitcher](https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/afterspark-podcast?refid=stpr#_=_)
>   * [Twitter](https://twitter.com/@AftersparkPod)
>   * [Tumblr](https://afterspark-podcast.tumblr.com/)
>   * [Youtube](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCG4cYaXdC4dtgl7a_paS6vg#_=_)
> 

> 
> You can also find us on our personal Tumblrs [@twilight-owl](http://twilight-owl.tumblr.com/) and [@specspectacle](http://specspectacle.tumblr.com/)!


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